#text parser

[allhailkingsquest]

noir_games 

[yourstrulybresus]

Merlin knows exactly what I want to hear when I do a good job!

Yrs truly, Bresus

[spitrine]

In my early 20s when I was a lot more into Gaming World I had a minute where I was really into text parser type stuff. I remember there was a website (not IF Archive) that people would upload their interactive fiction to and it had its own filetype or something, and you would just click and drag it to the opener and you would play things. There was one in particular that was so good, and i didnt get through much of it, but i still think about it to this day. All i remember is grass and being near something that seemed like a culvert maybe, or a tunnel. Maybe a hole appeared in some bushes. Idk.

Back to the point--anyone know the website im talking about? What i remember the most is the icons for the filetypes... it was very mid 00's style to me, it was like a pink circle with white outline and diarrhea green shading/gradient? I haven't looked too hard just yet but am about to do the dive once i post this.

[manonamora-if]

Lysidice and the Minotaur

You are Lysidice, a young Athenian maiden prisoner of the Labyrinth. Though you are under the protection of the Minotaur, you know your luck is bound to run out. And when he shows up... So you will need to escape the maze, if you want (him) to survive...

Lysidice and the Minotaur is an interactive parser, created for the Text Adventure Literacy Jam and is meant for beginner players, since it includes, a tutorial, a hint system, and a full walkthrough (also downloadable. 

As a parser, it is considered merciful (or polite, if I broke something). You will never reach a losing state. You can also find instructions on how to play a parser on the game page.

Mentions or depictions of: fights (swords), injuries and wounds (blood), mental illness, harm to animals (minimal). Please be aware when starting the game.

PLAY GAME | RATE GAME | REVIEW GAME

[groggydog]

THE FAMILIAR - Out now!

Hello everyone! My pixel-art-heavy and beginner-friendly parser entry for Spring Thing 2023 has officially been released into the wild. Learn more about it below, or click to play:

PLAY THE GAME!

You are a witch's crow familiar, headstrong as anything but still young and untested.

What starts as a normal day soon takes a harrowing turn when your pacific caretaker, Valmai, is struck down by a terrible hex of mysterious origin. Now it's up to you, little bird, to cure your caretaker and discover the hex's source.

Are you up for the task?

Beginner-friendly parser commands peppered with choice-based elements

Limited vocabulary: you'll only need LOOK, TAKE/GET, DROP, PECK, and CAW

Free to play; formatted for browser, tablet, and mobile

More than 30 unique, hand-crafted pixel art scenes

Roughly 60-90 minutes of play time

Cute woodland animals

Accessibility features: optional tutorial, dynamic TASKS list, three varied fonts, dark/light mode, and toggle-able text indicator for 'press any key' commands

For both detailed step-by-step and spoiler-free walkthroughs of the game (and information on how to obtain the secret ending), click here.

Written by groggydog

Raven portrait pixel art from craftpix.net

All other pixel art by groggydog

Created in the Adventuron Engine

Many thanks to my alpha/beta testers:

Alpha: jbeebs305, manonamora

Beta: Christopher Merriner, Dee Cooke, Mike Russo, Travis Moy, ZAG On Em Clan

[daemonhxckergrrl]

is there any good reason yellow isn't available on the mobile app ? "sorry we couldn't fit that many UI elements" isn't a valid reason - resize or scroll, bitch

[oswednesday]

every if is like communicating something from within the dev in a way you dont see as nakedly in like just a game or just a text based story book what have you cause its showing how they connect logic between two concepts in a way that allows branching choices and how they specifically create Grabbers for these things its like seeing every baffling coding decision while youre playing the game itself

[gamesline]

Week One of our recap of PAX West 2022 is now complete! You can check it all out right here as we prepare for Week 2 this Friday: https://gamesline.net/recap-pax-west-2022-full-coverage-day-1/

There are tons of cool game previews within this batch, but I especially want to highlight this incredible video of Solon interviewing Roberta Williams of Cygnus Games. She is a veteran of the industry, and both her and her husband are a light within the Seattle games scene! Grab a seat and listen as we connect the late-1970s to the 2020s in this extraordinarily unique video.

[nentuaby]

Oh thank god

[elfindreams]

What if there was an otherwise rather traditional RPG where instead of using dialogue trees, you had to communicate with NPCs using a text parser very much like ones from oldschool text adventure games or interactive fiction (i.e. Galatea) and had to learn for yourself what topics any particular character can discuss in detail, with the inevitable clunkiness explained in-story as your character being not particularly fluent in whatever language they’re all supposedly speaking?

[if-whats-new]

What's New In IF? Issue 12 (2024)

By Erika, Marjorie, Axelle, and Noi

Now Available!

Due to the early release of this issue, any release or update during June 28th unmentioned here will be included in next week's issue.

Itch.io. - Keep Reading below

Due to Internal things, the June and July issues will only update on events and games. We hope to resume regular activities and include more pages by August. Note: while Axelle is mentioned, they are currently on a break.

~ ENDED ~

The Rayuela (Spanish IFComp) released the ranking for this edition. Congratulations to the winners!

Both the Otome Jam and the Josei jam have ended this week, totaling almost 200 new VNs intended for female audiences.

Love/Violence also recently ended, with a dozen entries about love… and violence!

Eleven entries were submitted to the French jam Nouvim3000, with less then 3000 words!

Thanks to the record breaking submission count, the Neo-Twiny Jam managed to raise over $600 this year!

~ ONGOING (VOTING) ~

The 17 entries of the ParserComp are ready to be played and judged! Until the end of July, you can cast your votes!

~ ONGOING (SUBMITTING) ~

Like every July, the IFComp has opened once more their website for intent of submission, a required step to submit your game! You have until August 1st for the intent, then August 28th for the game! They are also looking for an artist to design their yearly logo! (paid)

While it is not IF-focused, the Anti-Romance Jam is once again looking for anti-romance submissions!

Did you submit an intent to the IntroComp? The deadline to submit your prototype is coming up! Don't forget, on July 31st!

The deadline for the Fix the Worst Visual Novels (Jam) has been extended until July 15th!

Are you a fan of Bluebeard? A jam focusing on the tale and its interpretations is ending this weekend!

Thinking of trying to make a Visual Novel? Try your hand at the O2A2 Jam, where you can only have one asset (of each type) and 1.000 words!

For the francophones, the French IF community is organizing a summer-long camp to create parsers. Join the Confiture de Parser if you're interested!

Until the end of July, a chill IF (text-only) game jam is happening on itch, from the Interactive Fiction Club.

~ OTHER ~

The Interactive Fiction Showcase is still running! If you have completed an IF piece this year, consider submitting it! It is happening only on itch!

~ NEW RELEASE ~

The Siren's Bet (Twine) is a short fantasy text game, where your path crosses a siren's. @kessielrg

Summer Night (Twine) is a short slice-of-life game about meeting friends. @lokeloski

Don't forget to check the events mentioned in previous pages! There were a lot of really cool entries!

~ NEW RELEASE (WIP) ~

Secunda Reforge (RenP’y) is a highly stylistic dark-fantasy and gothic visual novel. @secundareforged

Hubris (Twine) is a dark-fantasy project where you incarnate the Champion of the Gods. @hubris-the-if-game

Dragon Kin (CScript) is a high-fantasy project about struggled and power.

The Devils Privilege (CScript) is a young adult modern-fantasy project with twists.

Prismatic (CScript) is a personality-based death game with a focus on horror.

Wake to weep (CScript) is a mature mystery project with sci-fi tones.

Eschaton: The Rebirth (CScript) is a high-fantasy project with a battle for good and evil.

Phantasmagoria (CScript) is an extension project of a previous short game based on Greek Mythology.

~ GAMES UPDATES ~

A Shriek of Ash and Fire (CScript) has updated, doubling its word count, over 100k. @krogpile

Path of Martial Arts (CScript) has updated their Patreon's demo.

Drink Your Villain Juice (CScript) has made the last major update public. @drinkyourvillainjuice

Oh Mother, Where Art Thou? (CScript) has added extra content to the demo.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (CScript)'s Patreon demo has been updated. @doriana-gray-games

Luuckey United F.C. (CScript) has doubled its wordcount.

Scarlet Sorceress (CScript) has updated the demo.

Citadel (CScript)'s last update is now available to everyone. @bouncyballcitadel

Agents of Lucifer (CScript)'s demo now includes chapter 8 and 9. @aprismaticodyssey

One Knight Stand (CScript) has added the second part of Chapter 2 to the demo. @oneknightstand-if

The Bar of the Abyss (CScript) has been updated with extra content. @thebarontheabyss

The Thousand of Us (CScript) updated both the Patreon and public demo. @ivanwm-05

Honor Bound (CScript) has released Chapter 7 for the public demo. @hpowellsmith

Attollo (Twine) has released the Pariah's route for the Patreon's demo. @attollogame

Honor Among Thieves (CScript) made a quick update to the demo. @leoneliterary

The Story of Sin (Twine) added two full chapters to the demo. @devilishmango

The Abyssal Song (Twine) added Chapter 3 to the demo. @ri-writes-if

A Sun Asunder (CScript) almost doubled the wordcount of the demo. @asapostapocalypseif

The Curse of Cassandra (Twine)'s demo has been updated with more content. @thecurseofcassandra-if

~ OTHER ~

The Queer Games Bundle (@queergamesbundle) is still available on itch.io for another week! Support a bunch of queer creators (including Interactive Fiction authors!) by purchasing the bundle!

The new issue of the Amare Fortnightly Bulletin is out! Check it out here! @amaregames

Tears of Tianchao (Twine) is looking for beta testers. @redbeanbunsworld-if

The Dragon's Flagon (CScript) is looking for beta testers.

Let's Make IF is back for a second season of tutorials on how to make Inform 7 games. @golmac

We apologize if we missed an update or a release. We are but volunteers trying to find as much info as possible, but sometimes news pass through the cracks.

Please, let us know if something should have been added to the zine, and we will shout it out next week!

ERIKA, MARJORIE, AXELLE, AND NOI

WHAT'S NEW IN IF? 2024-ISSUE 12

[robobarbie]

Does Toasty's text RPG exist in any form outside of Bloomic? I keep finding myself wanting to play it and then having to remind myself it's fictional.

It does not, but we want to make something like it in the future. In the meantime, here are some alternatives:

Roadwarden is a text-adventure "grim fantasy" game with minimal graphics made in renpy. I played the demo a while ago and liked it a lot!

AI Dungeon is probably closer to the experience in bloomic if you use the basic adventure mode, but I have mixed feelings about rec'ing it anymore ever since 2022 bc of everything going on with AI. Back in the day, though, it was a pretty unique little AI generated experience with not a lot of baggage. Below are screenshots from the 2019 version. I never played, but I watched others who did.

The Pilgrimage is a text parser adventure alternative that has a similar retro minimalistic look. I just found out about this game right now, but it sounds pretty interesting. Lots of talking with people in a town, some drinking, and many, many shenanigans.

Lifeline is a rec if you are a mobile gamer. Save an astronaut from certain death through real time text exchanges. I played this many years ago, and it's probably a game that defined part of my type of game design.

Gateway is a great game for anyone looking for an old-school text parser game. I haven't played this one, but it frequently comes up in conversations when I'm looking for text adventure games.

There's a bunch more out there! If you search for "text-parser" games, you'll get that "type in and see what happens" experience.

[manonamora-if]

Interactive Fiction Showcase 2024

Showcase your Game!

The Interactive Fiction Showcase is a year-long "jam" meant to collect and showcase Interactive Fiction games completed in 2024, and show how diverse the Interactive Fiction scene is! And maybe: build more bridges between the community, help people finding their new favourite game/author...

Whether it is long or short, an easy adventure or a complicated puzzle, a strange experiment, a quick creation, or a years-in-the-making game, come show off what you've made!

Are you more of a player? Then, come check this page regularly for new submissions! Maybe leave a rating or a comment too :)

This is an unranked event.

Rules:

The Showcase is open to IF games in all of its forms: kinetic, choice-based, hyperlinks, parser, visual novels... As long as it is Interactive Fiction (there is interactivity and the focus of the game is on the text), the entry will be accepted.

The Showcase is open to IF games in any language.

Entries must be playable and in its complete form when submitted. Completed games in 2024, whose demo was previously public, are welcome. Games submitted to other events (jams/competitions) are welcome.

Entries can include NSFW content, as long as it is indicated in the submission.

Entries should not include any generated AI content - or it will be removed.

Spam or hateful content will be removed.

Creating Interactive Fiction:

Interactive Fiction is a text-based narrative medium, where players can interact with the story in some fashion (input commands, click a link/button, press key). There are many different ways of creating IF, and many different programs to do so. You can find some mentioned below:

Primarily HyperText/Choice-Based: Twine,  Ink, ChoiceScript, Dendry

Primarily Parser/Input: Inform 6, Inform 7, PunyInform, Adventuron, ADRIFT

Other: Bitsy, Binksi, Ren'Py

and many more can be found listed in the IF Wiki.

If you are looking for other Interactive Fiction Events, discuss general IF, or ask question, you can visit the IntFiction Forum. (we also have monthly IF events over at @neointeractives)

Interactive Fiction Database and Archive:

IFDB

The IFDB, or Interactive Fiction Database, is an IF game information catalogue, creating a historical record of the IF landscape. The database is a community project, updated by its members, by adding titles to the directory, ratings games, writing reviews... If a listing has not yet been created for your game, please consider making one!

IF Archive

The IF Archive is an archive of Interactive Fiction games, and IF-related elements (walkthroughs, interpreters, articles, collections...). The Archive’s mission is to preserve the history and practice of interactive fiction and make it freely available to the public. If you wish to, you can upload a copy of your game to the IFArchive, through the IFDB listing of your game (recommended) or directly to the archive.

The IFDB and IFArchive, as well as the IntFiction Forum and Twine, are managed by the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation. These programs are funded through individual donations.

Visual Novel Database

The VNDB, or Visual Novel Database, is a community project that strives to be a comprehensive database for information about visual novels. The database is updated by its members, by adding titles to the directory, ratings games, writing reviews... If a listing has not yet been created for your visual novel, please consider making one!

[groggydog]

I just want to thank you all so much for the love and support that The Familiar has received over the last couple of weeks. It means the world to me (and to Fran, too, of course).

We have already passed the browser plays of my entry from last year, SMTA! - which is quite exciting to see.

If you're interested, now is a great time to play The Familiar for free in your browser!

And don't forget that Spring Thing 2023 Ribbon Nominations are already open. I would be honored to receive any little nuggets of praise.

[oneknightstand-if]

If the ROs were IF readers what would be their favorite titles?

Man, have I played enough IF for this question? Okay, discarding visual novels and going with only text-based IF... Also, some of these are lies.

Merlin: A Kiss From Death - Avoid the fated apocalypse! Also horny.

Adrian: World's Apart - Yes, he's a hipster. Parser-based text adventure from the 1990s! It would've been Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but he forgot to bring his towel and ragequit.

Arthur: Save the Date - Look, his mind is blown by any of these games, but perhaps try and let him splash around in the shallow end with a relatively easy one that doesn't depend too much on stats. Also, you did your best. Move on.

Percy: One Knight Stand

Merlin: (ভ_ ভ) ރ ／/ ┊ \＼ I swear no more desserts for you if you don't stop breaking the fourth wall, Percy! Percy: 👎

4̶0̸4̸ ̶E̴r̸r̶o̷r̷ ̷N̴o̴t̵ ̸F̵o̴u̷n̸d̵: Damn I said no visual novels, so no Doki Doki Literature Club I guess the new Restore, Reflect, Retry

Cassandra: Evertree Saga

Gwen: Wayhaven Chronicles

Vivian: Someone's phone/tablet/computer is getting short-circuited if she tries to play an IF. If you tried to play a paper Choose Your Own Adventure or other gamebook with her... you're gonna get a very creepy experience there! Otherwise, she'd obviously favor one of the all completely unfinished stories about the rusalka or something such floating around like Abysm's Veil.

Lorelei: Infinity Saga

Broderick: What the hell is an 'IF'?

[allhailkingsquest]

Brandon Kouri wondered what King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow would look like if it had been released in the 80s instead of the 90s, and then spent the next 18 years (!) bringing his vision to life:

"The [King's Quest VI AGI Demake] re-creates the original game using Sierra's older AGI game engine from the 1980s. It features 16 color graphics and a typing interface. [...] It was made for anyone who loves King's Quest VI, the AGI game engine, text parser adventure games, or anyone looking for a nostalgic blast from the past!"

Download his magnum opus here!